We're Called FitzSimmons
by DoctorFitzy
Summary: Leo Fitz has everything already set for his future. Except when he gets a new room mate, he learns that she isn't just your average early high school graduate. It's Jemma Simmons, a genius biochemist working on her second PhD. Together, they become inseparable best friends. As Fitz and Simmons complete their latest prototypes, they get a not so friendly message from S.H.I.E.L.D.


**The Year of Black Men In Scary Suits**

Hey everyone. I'm so excited to be starting a new fic especially since I've barely updated my last ones. It's my first time writing an AOS fan fiction so I hope you like it and suggestions are welcomed :) The story takes place before Fitz knew Simmons and before they are both transferred to S.H.I.E.L.D. They are currently sophomores in college.

**Chapter 1 **

"Pardon me, is this Leo Fitzgerald's dormitory?"

Stunned that someone had managed to get past his bolted door sealed by several pressurization lines, 17 year old Leo Fitz froze in place, still horrified that an actual human being had entered his room. Not that it never happened before, Fitz occasionally let in his buddies from Scholar Night on Saturdays. And the buddies of his buddies who wanted to collaborate on the next new thing. The only people who really knew how to get in was his family and a couple of friends. Fitz rarely had time to even eat breakfast let alone become a sociable teenager like most teens his age. Should he be concerned? Most definitely.

Glancing up from his computer, he hopped off his stool and immediately kicked aside his backpack.

He didn't like peepholes. He found endless faults with them and inaccuracy so instead, he opened his mail slot to see a bright pair of steely gray eyes staring right back at him.

"Holy hell," Fitz cursed, stumbling backwards into his bookshelf. "My god, you almost scared me to death," he sputtered aloud, swinging the door open with his foot. "I hope this is important because I am in the middle of rebooting a stimulation database that requires articulate attention and I cannot have-"

"A girl who's about to become your new room mate and side kick?" Teased a girl, wearing a uniformed outfit completely fresh compared to Fitz's dirty jeans and wrinkled shirt. She pushed the door open with her hip and dropped two boxes on the floor. He blinked, then rubbed his eyes making sure his vision wasn't playing with him from his lack of sleep. A girl was in his room. A _real_ girl. But most importantly, one that didn't roll her eyes immediately when he brought up astronomy or politics or earth science because she smiled despite his messy room surrounded by countless blueprints and textbooks. The stranger was holding a few pamphlets, two large suitcases, and 2 boxes filled with beakers and telescopes.

"Sorry for the, um, mess," he nervously chuckled, jumping up to shake her hand. He squinted to read her name tag on attached to her collar shirt. "You must be Simmons. They told me you were, uh, coming. Biochem, right?" Fitz completely forgot. They sent a letter in the mail but he rarely checked it. He was such a terrible liar his Ma nearly spanked him everyday as a child for stealing cookies all the way on top of the fridge. He cursed himself under his breath for being an idiot.

She blushed, completely flustered. "Oh no, call me Jemma. That's my last name. You must be engineering then. They told me quite a lot about you."

"Leo," Fitz' replied. "And it's just Fitz, not Fitzgerald I don't know why people always assume that. I suppose it's because of my accent but being here is a big privilege and all, who am I to complain? Here, let me help you move your suitcase, you must be exhausted."

He took her two suitcases and opened the door to the other side of the wall.

"I'm sorry," she embarrassingly spoke, realizing she took things that weren't hers. "You must think I'm invasive. I can take the rest of my stuff from here, wouldn't want to bother you and all," she apologized, quickly returning the books back.

"No, no, that's fine. Take whatever you want. You can borrow whatever. I'm serious."

Simmons stared at him as if she was trying to study him, a small grin suddenly appearing on her cute face. "Thanks Fitz," she added, liking the ring to his last name.

Just as he was about to reply back to her, his mail slot suddenly opened and piles of mail came shooting in. "Crap," he groaned, shoving aside the envelopes requesting his overdue fines and instead, picking up a menu from Sweet Station. "Chinese food?"

He disliked the orange chicken. Not that it was against the law to hate it, he still wasn't accustomed to eating the variety of foods in America.

"I'm not sure if it's only me but I don't have a liking for orange chicken," Jemma mused aloud, scrunching her nose up in terror. "Orange chicken looks so... orange. It's like eating something from the lab with a color like that."

"Really? Me neither. Never liked it," he said, flipping through the menu. "The chow mein looks good."

"I'm starving so much, I could eat anything. It was just like last year when my professor kept arguing with my parents that I was ready to earn my PH.D. My dear parents didn't think I was ready, they doubted I finished my field work so quickly. I sat there the whole time as they kept firing comebacks against him, my stomach grumbled so loud it was like the bloody Civil War was being reenacted."

"But surely your parents let you earn your PH.D? Right?"

She sighed. "Yes, after a lot of convincing. I'm now working on my second Ph.D."

"You're a genius, Simmons, get used to it," he sang mockingly. "Oh Simmons bless me with your intellectual."

"Am not!" Jemma shrieked, punching him in the arm. "Honestly Fitz, I just moved in here from the U.K. Cut the British girl a break," she curtly snorted. "Or should I bring my tea and biscuits and we could have a tea party? Maybe you could wear a dress and I could wear a suit. "

They busted out laughing in the middle of the cafe, Fitz doubling over uproariously laughing at the thought of himself in a petticoat and a full out tea gown.

"No thanks," he said, wiping tears from his eye. "I don't know about you but my legs would look _fantastic_."

"That's disgusting," she grinned, shaking her head at him. "Oh look, our food has arrived. Well, better get eating I have a lot to unpack."

After an hour of giving Simmons a tour of his projects, he noticed more and more things that caught his attention about her. Posters of Einstein, The Curies, Rutherford, Da Vinci, Darwin, Abraham Lincoln, and more. Pictures of her family were already tacked up on her bulletin board and she even had begun cooking dinner. What really made him ponder was that she didn't close the door.

_I guess she must really trust me_, he thought, quietly smirking when she nearly knocked over a pot of noodles. _If she was assigned to be partners with me, it surely must mean something._

"Would you like some noodles?" Simmons asked after he just finished his paper, ducking her head into his room.

"Yeah, that'd be great, actually," he nodded back, mesmerized by the smell. Fitz nearly laughed out loud. A roommate who could _actually_ cook. When did that ever happen?

Despite the fact they ate dinner not too long ago, both of them had huge appetites for food.

He shoved his hands into his pockets trying to act casual and stepped over to her dorm, plopping down onto a couch. The T.V. was running quietly, broadcasting MythBusters. Cinnamon candles were already burning in her darkly lit room and a cool, gentle breeze flowered in from the fluttering window on his side. He liked how she set up everything. A bookshelf already filled with books. Papers scattered on her desk. A filtration of some precipitate was already happening in the other door leading to her own home lab. They had the best room in the whole wing, being the smartest people on the campus.

"Here, it's hot so be careful. Wouldn't want you burning yourself on the first day," she scolded, her voice reminding him of his sister whenever he always climbed trees. She sat down next him and changed the channel to the news. Meanwhile, he slurped his noodles hungrily. He hadn't had food like this since the last time he visited home, 3 months ago.

"This is... delicious. Simmons, you are a chef god," he exclaimed. "You should have gone to culinary school instead, I swear."

She laughed and kicked her shoes off. "Leo Fitz you are getting way over your head. I'm just a biochemist."

Somewhere in his mind, he highly doubted that. He doubted that Jemma Simmons, probably the most down to earth girl he had ever met was just a "biochemist". From the moment she had smiled at him, he knew, instantly that the girl with the steely gray eyes was not just anyone. She was special, in ways most people would have ignored. They probably didn't see the way she handled her lab equipment, delicately and gentle with love. Heck, she smiled at him the minute he opened his door, not even creeped out by his bolted dormitory door or his tornado wrecked room. Jemma Simmons, almost like an equation was one he couldn't figure out. But if they were destined to be paired up, he thought he'd make the best of it. There was no way this was an accident.

"Why don't you tell me about yourself?" Fitz politely asked. "But it's alright if you don't want to tell me. I understand meeting a new stranger and all."

"Not at all. Anything to break the ice. Why don't we play a game then? I'll ask a question and you answer. Then vice versa."

"Sounds good to me," he agreed, setting down his bowl of noodles. "Shoot me."

"Alright," she began. "How about what high school you came from?"

Memories of his 4 years at Fallen Woods High School came flooding back. It was located near the coast of Ireland. He was born and raised there by his Ma with his younger sister, Ellie. It was a rigorous school, filled with prodigies and talented students from every part of Ireland. Fitz was one of those students. Science, math, and technology were his greatest talents. His father had taught him everything he needed to know. But it wasn't time to tell her yet. No, it was too soon.

"Saint Augustine. It's in Scotland," he said, trying to sound cheerful about it.

"Fascinating," she said. "I've always wanted to go, hearing about the Loch Ness legend and all. Then there would be Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle. I mean, with the technology we've progressed and the thing's that have happened so far, I doubt things like that would hardly scare the majority of us. I'd love for a lot of things beyond human comprehension to be real. In fact, I'd risk a lot of things no man had ever discovered before for that dream. Wouldn't you?" Simmons asked, the candle light flickering off the reflection of her eyes.

What she said reminded him a lot of home. Back at home, with his Ma and younger sister. Telling old folklores by the fireplace and drinking Ma's special eggnog in the wintertime when Ellie would snuggle next to him in the dark. He never got that chance to explore his heritage, graduating high school by the time he was 15 and being sent to the most prestigious university in the nation of America. A man like him should have been happy, but he was no man. He was a boy, who went by Fitz, and dedicated hours of his life for science and engineering.

But now, he realized that he had found a partner. Someone willing to venture into the wild with him or build an atomic bomb. Someone who wasn't afraid of taking chances. He knew from the start and he could tell she was hinting at it too.

"Jemma Simmons," he proposed slowly. "Will you take my offer to become my partner for science and technology and the empowerment of the future? Are you willing to take the risks with me so that whatever we shall accomplish we will always accomplish it as a team?"

Simmons smiled. "I accepted the minute I walked in Fitz, and our team name is FitzSimmons now. So yes, I accept."


End file.
